Shopping carts are in widespread use in supermarkets, hardware stores, and other similar and dissimilar establishments. Generally, a shopping cart has a chassis or undercarriage, which includes a frame provided with wheeled casters and with a handle, and a large, upper basket, which is supported by an upper portion of the frame. Often, it also has a lower tray supported by a lower portion of the frame, below the main basket. The lower tray is useful to hold goods that are heavy or bulky, such as packages of beverage cans or large bottles.
Commonly, a shopping cart is nestable, which means that a similar cart can nest into the shopping cart. Further, it is common for the lower tray of the shopping cart to be pivotally mounted near a front end of the lower frame of its chassis or undercarriage, so that the lower tray can tilt upwardly so as not to interfere with the lower portion of the frame of the chassis or undercarriage of a similar cart being nested into the shopping cart.
This invention has resulted from efforts to improve a shopping cart having a tiltable tray on its undercarriage, generally as described above, so that the tiltable tray can be better utilized by a shopper.